Franco Belge Electricité puts customer service in the spotlight

Sonepar: Eighty-five is a respectable age…
D.B.: “It is a respectable age, the culmination of efforts made over several generations by employees and managers who have passed the torch on to us today. To build tomorrow’s success, we wanted to show the company’s managers, sales professionals and key business suppliers the roadmap that will lead us into the future: our vision, our objectives and our resources. Actions have been determined on the basis of the Sonepar France corporate mission, which was defined during the Malta Convention, and the strategic plan for the Ile de France region: “Choice Customer Services.”

Sonepar: How is Choice Customer Services visible in 2004?
D.B.: "Our actions will seek to achieve four related aims: to achieve proximity, build logistics capability, strengthen supplier partnerships and enhance the product mix. 
- To get closer to our customers, we will give greater support to as many of them as possible by capitalizing on the density of our network (32 retail outlets), and by improving the quality and frequency of customer communications thanks to a clear and direct communication plan that works for our networks. 
- We will improve our delivery systems by ensuring that customers have access to the products they need within a day of making the initial request; that orders are completely filled and arrive on time; and that the entire process is reliable. We plan to open a new warehouse with beefed up logistics capability by the end of 2004. This will enable us to expand our range of products and services and to make the continuous adjustments needed to meet new market demands. 
- We will build stronger partnerships with suppliers by removing bottlenecks, increasing our field presence, and pooling resources with suppliers to improve our positioning in the field. This is a critical challenge, particularly since – unlike the rest of France – the Ile-de-France market is characterized by a high level of direct sales and a “showcase” presence of every supplier in the business. 
- Finally, we will enhance the product mix by optimising our advice and servicing edge. This means ensuring that the employees in our network have the information, training and motivation they need to consistently operate at the top of their profession. I can think of no better service we can offer to the professionals in our business than that of being the force driving the product mix higher."

Sonepar: A rough evening at work…
D.B.: “It was an evening of work, during which we had the pleasure of hosting members of Sonepar and Sonepar France. Marie-Christine Coisne, Sonepar’s Chairman and CEO, was there, as was Sonepar France General Manager Hubert Stourm. The atmosphere was warm and relaxed. Indeed, what better way to convince our teams of the importance of building strong relationships with customers than to promote the same kind of relationships with one another!"

*The product or marketing mix is defined as the search for the best combination of the “four P’s”: product, price, placement and promotion.